e-brake sticking when it's cold sometimes
 

This happened occasionally last winter, but has anyone had the unfortuneate experience of having your e-brake stick?
For me it seems to happen when I first start it up the next morning, I kind of mess with the e-brake lever and it goes away, once it's unstuck it won't stick the rest of the day, but only in the morning.
I just hope this isn't a caliper related issue, because I don't feel like doing brake work when there's snow on the ground.
Any advice would be appreciated.

It's probably the cable, not the caliper.
Disconnect the cables from both calipers and see if there is any resistance when you pull the handle up, if so, replace the cables.

It's most likely the cables as Tom suggested. The cable brackets are commonly bent while putting the car on a lift - which puts stress on the sheating, cracks it and allows water/salt/debris/etc. to seep in and corrode/bind it. See www.motorvate.ca for a good picture/write-up on the problem.

The only solution (if indeed your cables are binding) is to replace them.

Ok, should I start just asking you two guys questions directly?

Same here. Replaced a cable 2 years ago. Now the problem came back this year with the freezing weather.

:D :nervous:

Probably just the moisture freezing the calipers to the rotors as the long night and colder temperatures allow it to freeze whereas the daytime is warmer and the brake it taken off and on more frequently.

I had a VW in college that this would happen, turned out that moisture in the cable guides from the e-brake handle back to the rear brakes would freeze, restricting movement of the e-brake cable. 4 cars (3 maximas) later have not had the issue reoccur.

Mine are doing the same thing.. in my case, its the passenger rear cable thats fubar'd. disconnected it and ordered a replacement form rockauto for 45.00. Dealer is 118 or so iirc.

Nevermind.. you bought a cable, not a caliper... :chuckle:

Mine started sticking this winter. I suspect that it is because of the rear sway bar; which causes an additional bend in the cable. Try poppin your car in reverse... may help it unstick.

Had this same problem, took the cable assembly off, hung it up and kept putting a little cable lube in each side and kept working them until they worked freely and reinstalled. I hate spending money unecessarily, these things aren't cheap.

this has happened to me twice this year so far, both sub 20F mornings.

first time I didnt know what was up so I put my car up on a lift, my ebrake works perfect.. cable is very free, its properly adjusted etc.

i noticed the rubber boots near the calipers are hard and cracked, myself and my mechanic friend with the lift are guessing water got into the ebrake cable lines and is freezing some mornings.

this makes sense with the way mine acts. when I first release the lever and it is sticking, when using the handle it feels as if there is no tension for about 1," (which there shouldnt be any,) so the cable is stuck in a "pulled" position.
playing with it for awhile fixes it, but BE CAREFUL!

the first time it happened before I went to a shop, I was skeptical that my ebrake was really fully free, so after driving only 3-4 blocks I stopped and checked and one was still dragging (not enough to notice while driving, but it super heated my pads/rotors.)

be sure they are really free before you drive!